This week on Raw: The comeback Diva, Melina scored another victory, this time over Jillian. The A-Lister had some words for Glamarella too.
Thoughts & Reactions
Long time no see, right? Raw just got interesting about a week ago, when Melina made her return to Monday nights. It seems that Melina is a Diva who can do no wrong, coming back stronger, better and faster than ever before. With a new move in her arsenal that had fans going ‘wow’, Melina looked like she hadn’t skipped a beat last week in a six Diva tag match.
And this week? Melina faced off against her former BFF (and real life BFF), Jillian! Rather unusual, Jillian got a massive amount of offense in this match which I found bizarre. Jillian barely gets any offense in against the likes of Kelly Kelly, Candice and Mickie James and now all of a sudden she’s controlling most of her match with Melina? Jillian is your standard jobber at this point in time, let’s face it, so I don’t think it made the A-List Diva look too strong by jobbing out for most of the match. I would much rather have this match be about Melina showing off some of her moveset, because I think that alone is rather exciting for the fans. Jillian controlling the match – despite us knowing she would lose eventually – wasn’t exactly riveting television. That said, I think Jillian came off really strong and proved what a great wrestler she is. This really highlighted Jillian in a way that we’re not used to seeing her, but unfortunately she’ll always be a jobber.
I really love Melina’s ‘Last Call’ powerbomb, very different and great to watch. But I really hope she continues to use her inverted split-leg drop, I love that move. Maybe the Last Call could be a signature move instead? I think the leg drop move is a real defining finisher that leads nicely into a pinfall, I loved last week when she counted 1-2-3 on her hand too. I know it’s just a small detail, but it really creates a nice overall finisher.
And then here’s where things got interesting. What’s that… a Diva holding a microphone? Really? When was the last time you saw a Diva other than Lilian Garcia or Eve hold a microphone? Melina is great on the microphone as we know from her MNM days and I’m glad that WWE gave her the opportunity to be involved in a promo. If you ask me, this shows plot development and a confidence in Melina and her potential feud with Beth Phoenix. To be an all around top Diva you have to be able to work a mic but not since the days of Trish Stratus, has WWE really given a Diva some mic time so that was cool to see. WWE planted the seeds nicely for the continuation of a Beth-Melina feud, I would have liked them to touch upon their history a little more, but this was effective too. The little comedic spot with Santino was nicely done. I like that WWE is actually creating a story here and hopefully they continue that in coming weeks between Beth and Melina. Already Melina’s comeback is getting off to a far better start than Candice did a couple of months ago. Melina looked on fine form in her return match, while Candice looked sloppy and uneasy in hers – both of which were coincidentally, six Diva tags. Candice was awarded a Women’s Championship shot the very next week whereas from the looks of this week’s show, Melina is working for hers and having an actual storyline with Beth. Beth and Candice had a built-in storyline that WWE didn’t push at all, no revenge plot or anything even though Candice was their top Diva. I definitely think her in-ring performance hindered her chances at a long programme with Beth. It’s nice to see that Melina is being pushed over the more obvious choices of Candice and Kelly, a great vote of confidence and I think the in-ring work between these two is going to be very strong.
